Fiercely hopeful, but clear-eyed
It’s Public Schools Week, a national celebration of public schools and a chance to show our commitment to students, school staff and communities, and to lift up the essential role public schools play in our democracy.
At a time when our society is more divided than ever, public schools are places of comity: They bring people together and make our neighborhoods stronger. They bridge divides and teach tolerance; they create a ladder of opportunity for all children, helping them develop the muscle of civic participation.
In an era where the economy creates some winners as well as many people who struggle not just with affordability but to make ends meet, where we confront growing ethnic and racial tensions and the daily undermining of our democracy, we need strong public schools now more than ever.
Educators, students, parents and leaders must work together to make them safe and welcoming places where students thrive academically and emotionally. Our public schools are not simply a place of opportunity but also one where we can embrace our diversity and forge a common identity.
As president of the American Federation of Teachers, I visit as many of our neighborhood schools and listen to as many of our 1.7 million members as possible to see and hear firsthand what is working and what obstacles they face. Here are just a few of the countless places where great things are happening in our public schools.
- Van Wert, Ohio, is a rural community that has invested in early childhood education, project-based learning and the community-schools model to provide wraparound services to help children cope and overcome challenges outside the classroom. As a result, even though more than half of Van Wert students come from low-income families, 96 percent graduate from high school on time.
- Jefferson County, Ala., has thriving engineering, culinary arts and nursing classrooms; and Peoria, Ill., has a career and technical program that the AFT helped create in partnership with local companies, the chamber of commerce and trade unions. Both are helping students learn the skills to thrive in the 21st-century economy and build lifelong careers.
- Educators, staff and administrators at Bessie Carmichael Elementary School in San Francisco have created a welcoming school environment that oozes with joy and focuses on high academic achievement for their diverse student population. Together, they have developed a culture of collaboration with ongoing community support, and are providing access to the resources and services that students and educators need to feel safe and supported.
But it’s not only the people in the schools who make a difference, it’s also business owners, farmers and ranchers in communities like Ekalaka, Mont., who recognize their public schools are the heart of the community and gladly invest in them to fund our future.
I’ve listened to teachers talk about what works in their classrooms, to parents about how much their children’s schools matter to them, and to businesspeople who know that strong and effective public schools are essential to our country’s economic strength. This all makes me fiercely hopeful.
Fiercely hopeful because after a decade of disinvestment and with 21 states still spending less on education than they did in 2008 before the Great Recession, there has been a sea change in attitude with so many Americans calling for greater investment in our public schools.
Fiercely hopeful because I have walked side by side with parents, students and educators who came together and took to the streets from Oklahoma to West Virginia, from Chicago to Los Angeles,and from Indiana to Florida demanding that leaders end the disinvestment in our public schools and instead call for adequate resources; proven educational strategies; and more school counselors, librarians and nurses to make sure all our kids receive a high-quality public education in a community of support.
Fiercely hopeful because I’ve worked with Republicans like Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker who signed a landmark bill to inject $1.5 billion annually into his state’s public schools, and Democrats like New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham who proposed funding for tuition-free college in her state.
Fiercely hopeful because of the bipartisan support in Congress to pass $1 billion in funding for Title I and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
I am also clear-eyed about what is at risk and what is at stake in 2020.
The Trump administration just this month introduced a budget proposal that cuts billions in education funding and would slash the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program taking food out of the mouths of students who rely on it.
Instead of helping public students thrive, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is undermining our public schools — which 9 out of 10 U.S. students attend — with a voucher scheme that diverts $5 billion of taxpayer funds from public schools to private schools.
Under DeVos’ watch, the administration has rolled back rules to protect women, LGBTQ students and students of color. The Trump administration cut protections for transgender students, made it harder for victims of sexual harassment and assault to seek justice by changing campus sexual assault policies, and repealed rules from President Obama’s administration that attempted to reduce racist disciplinary policies targeting students.
DeVos also has sided with corporate interests over students and has made it easier for companies like Navient to engage in what state governments have called deceptive collection practices, and for denying 99 percent of the teachers, nurses and public employees who applied for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program and exacerbating the student loan crisis.
And, while the AFT is working with communities, parents, businesses and school districts to invest in our public schools, colleges and services to fund our future, the Trump administration gave $2.3 trillion in tax cuts mainly to the wealthiest Americans and corporations.
What all these actions show is that the Trump administration wants to decimate public schools and cut funding for crucial programs that provide our most vulnerable students and communities the resources they need to succeed — all while trying to push new funding for privatization and vouchers.
Parents, communities and educators overwhelmingly support their public schools, which 90 percent of our country’s students attend. That is why we’re going to keep fighting to fund our future and to make every public school a place where students are engaged, educators want to work, and parents are happy to send their children.
In many communities, our public schools are the one place where we can all come together — regardless of ability, race, wealth, language, religion or country of origin — to prepare our children for bright futures and where our common bonds outweigh our differences. Strengthening our public schools strengthens our democracy.
